The World At Large
by katsurai
Summary: Upon waking up and finding out he is now a member of the Forsaken, Sirius must get used to his new life. When he meets a Blood Elf woman who claims to know him, things get interesting.
1. Chapter 1

'What am I running from? It's too dark to tell. I can't see or hear anything but I'm too afraid to stop. Why am I afraid to stop? There's nothing back there...is there? I can't...see it. I can't hear it. But, I feel it. It's close and it's angry.' I felt my throat close up and I began to gag. My hands shot up to my throat instinctively and I massaged small circles on my neck in hopes that I could fix it. No matter what I did though, it wouldn't work. I couldn't yell or scream or anything. I was dying.

'Aren't I already dead? That would explain the darkness but..it doesn't feel like death. It feels like something worse. Much worse.'

My eyes opened immediately and I was greeted with the splattering sound of water hitting stone nearby. I sat up and my eyes swept over the room; carefully taking in my surroundings. The room was rather small and dimly lit by a couple of torches hanging off the wall. There was a small table in the corner with utensils and tools along with a coffin beside it. I stood up from the floor and started to walk towards the table when I noticed some unlit stairs to my left and decided to take those instead. They led upwards and out of what I discovered was a crypt. I stood back and eyed the partially destroyed stone building for a moment and then brought my hands up mid chest and studied them. My eyes wandered from my thick, pointed, yellow finger nails to my pale blue skin and then to the bones sticking out where my elbows were. 'Why...?' I began to think but was interrupted by someone else.

"Oi!"

I turned around and saw an undead man with a purple mohawk and a slack jaw sitting on the ground a couple feet away. I walked over to him. "Yea?" I asked.

"It's about time you woke up, you bastard." he grumbled and proceeded to grab a giant book next to him and thumb through it.

"Excuse me?" I said, fairly annoyed at being talked to this way by a stranger.

"Are you the deaf guy?" the undead asked; pondering for a moment. "No...wait. Nope, he woke up long before you." He continued flipping through the book; his eyes quickly skimming the pages' contents as he did so.

"I'm confused..." I confessed.

"Well, give me just a damn minute. Geez, newcomers are so damn annoying." he ranted. I watched him flip through some more pages and when he got close to the end, he finally stopped. "Ahhh, yes. Here we go. You are number 130376. You died two weeks ago due to...oh ho ho ho!" he cackled.

I furrowed my eyebrows, annoyance written clearly on my face. "What? What's so funny?" I demanded.

"You died from an Alliance ambush," he said with a grin and dug inside his torn and dirty trousers for something to write with.

I could feel my face burning with anger. I could take a lot of things but being mocked for dying? However, I bit my tongue and fought back any insults I wanted to tell him."And that's funny how?" I inquired; i felt my voice shaking.

"It's funny because you were Alliance before you died. So obviously there's some traitors among those grimy, no good pygmy herders." he explained.

I thought about what he said for a moment. So..I had been Alliance before? And...people who were ALSO from the Alliance...ambushed me? I couldn't recall any of it...Was he lying? I wasn't sure if I could trust him but at the same time... Could this be a joke? An elaborate prank set up by someone? No. It was way too real. And, besides, I don't...remember anything. Nothing that happened before. Why don't I remember? While standing there, I tried hard to go back into my mind; to dig up a memory. But, after several moments I decided that it was no use and I felt a headache coming on to make things worse.

"Anyway, listen numb nuts. I need..." he stopped and I looked up at once to see that his jaw had fallen off and was sitting at my feet. "El, eck et uhhhhh" he mumbled; pointing at his detached part inches from my toes.

I gave him a stare before bending down and grasping the bone. I tossed it on his book and watched as he spent several minutes reattaching it to his face.

"Geez, jackass. Way to stand there and watch," he muttered. "Just because your jaw is intact doesn't mean it won't ever happen to you." he said eying my surprised face and then cackling madly. "Now, onto business. We need a name from you."

"What?" I questioned.

"Sorry, that one seems to be taken." he replied with another scratchy laugh.

I rolled my eyes and took a moment to think. I...Did I have a name? I don't recall anything. "I don't recall having a name?" I said; looking at him confused.

He just sighed at me as if this was the most obvious thing in the world, "Of course not, not many do. You're a different person now. You pick a new name and you go from there. Get it?" he asked; shaking his pen up and down to get the ink running. "Now, hurry up, times' a wasting." he chortled.

I really didn't know a name. I could've probably come up with something if I wasn't required to think about it on the spot but the fact that it was needed now threw me for a bit of a loop. "Umm...Sirius." I said finally.

"Why so?" he asked before breaking into a grin. I only shook my head and rolled my eyes as I heard another symphony of laughter come from him. "It fits you perfectly, you know." he continued.

"I guess." I wasn't even sure where that name had come from.

"Last name?" he asked while scribbling inside his book quickly.

"Um..Is it needed?" I inquired; looking at him hard. Coming up with a first name was hard enough.

"Not really, I suppose," he paused a moment; pen on his lip as he thought. "It helps though."

"I'd rather not have one."

"Alright. Well, that's it," he pushed himself to his feet and returned the writing utensil back into his pants pocket. Grabbing the book off the ground, he turned and look at me. "Enjoy your new life." he grinned.

I gave him a hard look, "Yea...right."

He walked up to me and stood inches from my face. "Listen, mate. I was like you too when I first died. I was a bitter old fuck as well. And, sure, you can be. You have reasons too. You're thrown into a life that you didn't ask for," he paused a brief moment to heave the book into his arms and closer to his chest. "But, the thing is. You can't do anything about it. So, you can either stay mad at the world or you can take it for what it is and lighten up." he then turned and continued down the path leading away from the crypt and cemetery.

I stood a moment watching him and thinking about what he had said. He was right, but at the same time I didn't really care. I don't think I want to lighten up, at least not anytime soon. I was so confused. There were so many things I wanted to ask...to know. I just wanted to remember. I think that was the most frustrating part of all. Dying and coming back on an entire different faction was one thing, but having no information on who I was or what I had done? Ridiculous and unfair.


	2. Chapter 2

I watched the flames lick and hiss at the logs above it; slowly growing as it devoured and destroyed it's source of life. I grabbed a plate of food that was sitting on the table behind me and proceeded to dump it's contents [a handful of mushrooms and a piece of bread] into the fire. The piece of bread flopped on top of one of the logs while the mushrooms proceeded to roll off in all directions. They charred rather slowly and after a moment of observing them I lifted my eyes to the room.

I had decided to stay at the Brill Inn until I figured out what I wanted to do. I had no plans, no memories, nowhere to go, no reason for anything, really. It continued to bother me but at the same time, the undeads' words kept replaying in my head. '_You can't do anything about it. So, you can either stay mad at the world or you can take it for what it is and lighten up_.' I know there's nothing I can do. I know that. But, at the same time I'm still just...just...angry. I'm pissed off. Being pissed off may not do anything but how much good would prancing around like an ignorant fuck do? It was all the same in my head. No matter what I did, nothing would change. I'd still just be a dead guy who didn't know who the hell he was or where the hell he was supposed to go from here.

"Hey! Did you mess with my food?"

I turned and saw a pale green undead woman standing next to the table where I had grabbed the plate. She was staring right at me, else I would've just ignored it.

"Just cooked it for you." I replied; nodding my head towards the fire.

"Jerk..." she said before turning on her heel and heading out of the inn; her robes dragging along behind her bare feet.

I chortled to myself. Jerk, huh? Guess I should get used to that. I've yet to meet another man around here that wasn't a complete ass. Though, I guess that's to be expected when you round up a bunch of dead guys, bring them back to life and force them to function with no idea of what the fuck they're doing.

My thoughts were interrupted as someone sat down next to me. The guy looked like he had experienced one hell of a death. His lower jaw was hanging off it's hinge, there were several holes poked into his face and he wore a strip of black cloth around his eyes. He held a bowl of mushrooms in his lap and I watched as he proceeded to pick them out and toss them into his mouth one at a time.

"Is there even any point in eating food?" I asked curiously.

"Not really," he grunted. "Just something to do, I guess."

"When did you get here?" I questioned. I'm not sure why I was wanting to talk to him. I guess after having no company but my own mind for the last several hours it was actually sort of nice talking to someone.

"A few weeks ago," he said; setting the bowl of mushrooms down onto the floor and wiping his hands onto his tattered shirt.

"Ahh, I got here just today."

He nodded slowly. "Like it so far?"

I just stared at him a moment as if he was the biggest dumbfuck I had ever seen. 'Like it so far?' Fuck. Really? What kind of question was that. Who the hell would like this? I swallowed quietly and clasped my hands together in front of me. "No, " I said honestly. "Not at all. Do you?"

"What the hell do you think?" he laughed. "But, despite how shitty it is. There are some upsides."

"And the upsides would be...?" I asked; raising my eyebrow at him.

'Well," he began, "You don't have to worry about eating or drinking. You can't get drunk. Don't have to worry about protection with the ladies, since we can't reproduce, and you don't need to sleep," he finished.

I pondered everything he said a moment. "Some of those are alright I guess. Still doesn't make up for...this," I waved my hand around the room and at myself and him.

"Yea well. No one said it would." he cackled.

I sighed and returned my gaze back to the flames. I couldn't make heads or tails of the food I had tossed in and the logs at this point had shrunk quite significantly.

"You should smile more."

I cast a sideways glance at him, "What?" The guy had to be kidding. Smile more? While I'm here? Fat chance.

"People always told me I didn't smile enough," he said, as if he was recalling a memory from long ago. "I still didn't though. I feel like this is my second chance to do just that."

I froze for a second; taking in what he said. "Wait...when you were alive people told you that?" I asked; suddenly a thousand times more interested in hearing what this stranger had to say.

"Indeed."

"Wait...," I said in disbelief. "You...you remember something from when you were alive?"

"Yea. It happens sometimes," he said. "A memory will sometimes just come back to you."

"Is there anything you can do to sort of...well...I guess trigger memories?" I asked quickly.

"It's usually just random. Although, people and places have been known to pull a thing or two from a person's subconscious." he explained.

I nodded slowly as I took this in. Maybe there was hope then? I wouldn't count on it...but I had to admit it did give me a bit of hope. And maybe that was a bad thing to have right now, but it gave me something to look forward to and having something to look forward to would help restore some of my sanity no doubt.


	3. Chapter 3

I sat on an old tree stump behind the Brill Inn. Jarvin, the undead I was talking to inside there earlier, told me I should try looking at pictures of Alliance areas or if I was brave enough- visit them. It seemed like a silly idea, though I suppose I couldn't really doubt it. Especially since he was able to remember something from before. I think a part of me also didn't really want to doubt it. I wanted that small ray of hope, even if it was extremely unlikely. I broke out of my thoughts for a moment; noticing movement up ahead. I tilted my head searchingly but didn't move. Those were two things about me. I was curious as fuck but I was also lazy as fuck. I sat there a moment thinking about what I wanted to do. Curiosity won.

I got up from the stump and crept passed the cramped trees and ducked under the hanging branches towards the direction of the noise. It wasn't long before I found the cause of it- an undead woman picking herbs. I face palmed; feeling stupid for wandering over here.

"Come to burn my herbs, have you?"

My hand fell from my face and I looked at the woman. It was the undead from the inn. I chortled to myself as I replayed her remark in my head. She gave me a long eye roll and went back to picking herbs. I followed behind her; keeping my distance.

"Is there something you want?" she asked; stopping after several moments and turning around to face me.

"You shouldn't be wandering around out here by yourself." I said.

She shifted her eyes and gave me an 'Are you serious?' look. "I can take care of myself, thanks."

I wasn't sure what came over me but I reached out and grabbed her arm. I felt her tense up and I honestly was expecting her to land a blow to my face but she didn't. "I'm sorry for earlier." I said apologetically.

She broke into a smile, "So you are a softy, hm?" she giggled.

I shook my head. "No, but I know when I've done wrong. And earlier, I was just angry."

"So, you cook when you're angry?" she asked puzzled.

"No, I did that out of boredom." I said.

She shook her head; still smiling. "Well," she said before the smile left her mouth. "Just remember that we were all in the same boat as you at one point. We know what you're going through. But you have to remember that you can't take it out on others." she paused a moment thoughtfully. "Everyone's fighting their own battles," she recited with a hint of sadness in her voice.

I didn't have anything to say to that. I thought it fairly corny, honestly, but I felt now wasn't the best time to point that out. I just nodded at her.

"I may be asking too much but..would you like to help me?" she asked.

I paused for a moment. My guy side was screaming 'No! The fuck! Picking flowers?' but I ignored it. "Sure." I said finally.

"Great!" she exclaimed. "I just need peacebloom."

And with that we circled around the wooded area; eyes searching for the peacebloom's familiar white petals among the tall grass.

"I don't believe I remember your name." she said; hands gripped onto the stem of a plant. She pulled it out quickly and tucked it into her arms.

"I don't believe I gave it." I retorted as I too pulled a peacebloom from the ground.

"Fair enough." she said slightly amused. "I'm Miranda, in case you wanted to know."

I nodded slowly. "Nice to meet you." I said; thoughts still focused on the task at hand.

We continued around the forest; doing a loop around the outside and a zigzag pattern through the middle before stopping. It was dark outside. I imagined it was well past midnight after we had finished collecting her herbs. She led me to the small building past the Inn. We crept inside and were greeted by pitch blackness.

"Give me a moment to light some lanterns and mi..."

"FUCK!" I yelled. As soon as I had stepped in I felt something sharp dig into my foot. I pulled it up quickly and balanced on my other; still trying to hold onto the peacebloom.

"Mind your step..." she said tentatively.

"Too fucking late for that. Just get some light on so I can see what the fuck I stepped on." I said annoyed.

I heard her moving around in the darkness. It couldn't have been more than a few minutes that had passed but my foot was aching and it felt like she was taking forever. I sighed when she managed to light two lanterns. The light swept across the small room; casting an orange glow over everything. She hung them up on opposite sides of the room and then walked over to me. She took the bundle of peacebloom from my arms and brought it over to a desk while I grabbed onto my foot and lifted it up to get a better view. There was a rather large gash on the bottom. To my surprise there wasn't any blood, just a clear view of the inside of my foot. My eyes skimmed over the floor but I couldn't see anything that could have caused it.

Miranda turned from the table after setting the peacebloom down. "What in Azeroth's name happened to you!" she shrieked. She looked more frightened then I was and rushed over to me. Kneeling down; she held onto my foot and peered at it. She ran her fingers around it and looked to see if what did it had maybe gotten lodged inside.

"It's fine. It's not too bad." I said; wincing as she poked the flesh around the wound.

"Not too bad?" she cried. "You have a hole in your foot!"

"And Jarvin has holes in his face but I don't see you freaking out on him." I said.

"Those are marks from his death you idiot." she hissed.

I watched as she stood up and disappeared into another room. I set my foot back down on the ground; making sure to keep the front part up and balance on my heel. Miranda returned with a long strip of bandage.

"Sit down," she said; walking over to me and kneeling in front of me.

I rolled my eyes and steadily lowered myself to the floor. She grabbed my foot and set it on her lap and I watched as she wrapped it up tightly.

"That should help for now." she said; eying her work with a stern face. She bit her lip and furrowed her brows as she gave one last look around me to see if there was something she missed. "We can go to Beryl tomorrow and he can heal it for you." she suggested.

"No. It'll be fine."

"You're going." she said.

"I'm okay."

"You're going and that's that. Stop being such a stubborn ass!" she yelled; standing up and returning the leftover bandage.

I stretched my legs and and placed palms on the floor behind me; leaning back and observing the room. There were two large tables filled with vials, herbs, tools, jars and jumbled papers. The walls were covered with papers of diagrams and data with a few shelves scattered around holding more vials and bottles of various liquids and herbs. It was then that I noticed it. In the corner under one of the tables was a spiked crab. He was about the size of my head and had large spikes spread out on his back and claws.

"You bastard." I said; eying him. I grabbed onto the edge of the table and lifted myself up. Quickly, I grabbed a small axe atop the table and dropped myself back onto the floor. I crept forward underneath the table and gave the axe a quick swing in the crabs' direction. It hit him spot on and he hissed at me angrily; opening and closing his claws rapidly.

"Come on bastard!" I taunted. In hindsight, this was probably the most ridiculous fucking thing I've ever done but I was way too pissed off and in pain to care.

He retreated farther away; scrunching himself up against the wall. I continued moving forward and this time just unleashed all hell. I began swinging the axe repeatedly, every which way. Followed by slamming it against the floor. If I couldn't chop the bitch I was going to crush it. I gave it one last blow and observed it for a moment. It wasn't moving anymore and the axe had done a number on it's shell; leaving it cracked and oozing small streams of blood. I tossed the axe at it and rolled out from under the table. Miranda was standing in front of me; hands on hips.

"What the hell were you doing?" she asked.

"Killed a crab. I think I stepped on him." I said.

"A crab?" she said puzzled. She bent down and looked under the table. "Ughhh...that's so gross..." she moaned.

"What he gets." I said. I felt a lot better taking my anger out on something. Though, I don't think I wanted to make a habit of killing crabs.

"Let's get out of here. Johaan doesn't like people hanging around inside for too long." she said; holding her hand out to help me up.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Miranda and I were sitting inside the inn in front of the fireplace. She had gotten a bowl of mushrooms and offered me some but I passed. If we didn't need to eat, I wasn't going to waste time with it. We just sat in silence; watching the flames dance around the logs and every now and then they'd shoot up as if getting a burst of energy before falling back down; returning from their small 'high'.<p>

"Johaan, I needed it today. You knew that."

I turned around and saw a rough looking undead with no hair sitting at a table. Another undead stood on the other side; hands pressed against the wood. I assumed that was Johaan.

"Well, I don't know what to tell you. Some fucktard killed my fucking crab and that was the only specimen I was able to find." Johaan said angrily.

Miranda's eyes widened and she looked at me quickly; mouth agape. I shrugged at her and put my finger to my lips; letting her know to be quiet and not say anything. She put her face in her hands and shook her head quietly.

"Well. Next time be more careful. I'm giving you a week to get another one."

Johaan turned on his heel and left without another word.

"You are such an idiot." Miranda mumbled from behind her hands; before pulling them away and looking at me.

"Yea, well. He started it." I said defensively.

"So childish," she said with an eye roll before leaving for the staircase behind me.

I watched her disappear up the steps. I eyed her bowl of mushrooms she had set on the table. Leaning over; I grabbed one and popped it into my mouth; chewing thoughtfully. They actually tasted pretty good.


End file.
